A Stitch in Time - Life is Strange Season 2 Episode 3
by AjaxKnight
Summary: With the truth behind the storm finally beginning to unravel, everything falls down to Max Caufield to once again to uncover the whole truth of the secrets of Arcadia Bay.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Notes:**

 **Whoa there. This is the third part of a series. If you haven't read the first part, this won't make quite as much sense. Actually, it'll probably be really confusing. So I highly suggest you click on my name and check out part 1. Even if you have read it, I suggest you read the last chapter of part 1 again, as it is a journal entry/summary. It'll help you keep up to speed on what's happened before hand without having to read everything all over again. If you're all ready to go however, then enjoy!**

Her eyes slowly fluttered open as sleep began to slightly loosen it's grip on her body. Splotches of color made their way into the blue pools of her retinas, not allowing her vision to actually make out anything around her. Her small hands groggily found their way to her eyes and rubbed the sleep out from them, finally allowing her brain to see the world clearly. White encapsulated her the pillow fort around her came into complete focus.

The pillow fort was standing around the two girls as they snuggled close to each other on Chloe's queen sized bed. Smiling to herself, Max gently closed her eyes once again and allowed the memories of the previous night to replay in her mind, like a movie. Vivid colors and clear voices made their way into her brain as the memories played over again. The memory of her and Chloe having a pillow fight, of making out under the freshly made fort as a celebration, of cuddling with her girlfriend and staring at her luscious blue hair as she drifted off into sleep.

 _'I don't remember who's idea it was to build this thing, but I'm glad we did. It was like we were kids again, building pillow forts and talking about nothing. Something I could use after yesterday. Time sure is getting more and more full of shit as it goes along.'_

The gentle hum of Chloe's desk fan filled the room giving off a soft amount of white noise, gently tugging at the awakened state of her mind. A breeze from the open window tickled her slightly, contradicting the white noise that was threatening to put her to sleep. Just as Max was beginning to get the urge to move her body so the air wouldn't continue to keep her awake, she felt Chloe's long slender arms wrap around her frame and her face bury itself into the crook of her neck, before mumbling something against her skin. Smiling slightly at her girlfriends unconscious gesture, the brunette girl gently pressed her body back, nestling it into the girl behind her. Her arms felt warm against her as they pressed against the fabric of Max's t-shirt. A small, steady rhythm of hot breath gently blew over the back of her neck, which didn't seem to bother the small photographer at all. For a few more minutes, Max just took in the experience of being held. Focusing on the way that Chloe felt pressing on her behind, how tightly Chloe was holding her, how her lips seemed to be just barely grazing her. It was intoxicating. A feeling that Max wasn't sure she'd ever get tired of. The feeling of the person you love more than anything in the world unconsciously showing you that you mean as much to them as they do to you.

Once again, her mind began to slowly paint a memory for her, one full of bright colors and vivid sounds. She could hear Chloe telling her how gross boy's were, how Max didn't have any style, she could feel her lips press against Chloe's for the first time. It was an awkward, extremely short lived kiss, but it still felt magical.

 _'This is just like after the night we broke into Blackwell, only better. This time, I actually have Chloe. No awkward phases of wondering if Chloe likes me or not. I'm more than sure of that now. If it weren't for times like this, just being with her, I don't know if I could survive.'_

Lying in her girlfriend's arms was exactly how Max wanted to spend her day. Just being here, with her, in a world that doesn't move. A world with no anxiety, no death, no time fuck ups; just her and her girlfriend. Max once again pressed herself into the sleeping punk behind her, desperate to get as much contact as she possibly could.

 _'She is probably my main reason for being okay. I know I couldn't keep going on if I didn't have her again. I know I'm just 18, but I know what I feel is real. I know that I only want her for the rest of my life. I would tear apart time just to keep her with me. Just so I could feel her arms around me,'_

Her eyes looked down at the arms wrapped around her as a smile beamed across her face.

 _'This is what perfection must feel like. The glow of the sun making everything beautiful, being completely comfortable, and cuddling with someone who loves you just as much as you love them. An extra bonus when that person is the single most beautiful girl you've ever seen. You hit the Jackpot, Max.'_

Being in a situation where there were no sounds in the room, nothing to look at but the white pillows all around her, and the thoughts of the past week running through her head, Max's mind began to wander once again.

 _'So...why is Chloe here with me anyway? Kate got saved in that timeline. Jefferson is now in prison back then...but why did Chloe come back with me? Okay...so I did do things in each little timeline, and each time I did, something happened. What if when I kissed Chloe, it brought her with me or something? Like when I had that hammer back in the bathroom? God. Why does this all make no sense? Where is the Hitchhiker's Guide with all the answers when you need it?'_

With each and every breath that was colliding with the back of her neck, Max could feel a longing in her brain to look at her girlfriend. To gaze at her longingly and watch her as she slept. However, the feeling of Chloe's arm's around her were making her chest feel light and fluttery, safe and secure. If she moved, it may risk waking her up and losing these cuddles, but if she kept lying here, she would eventually get too anxious and have to force herself to move. So, Max decided to have the best of both worlds.

 _'Okay Max, time to try and not wake the sleeping bear.'_

She turned ever so slowly in Chloe's arms, trying not to wake her; and not to break the contact. Gorgeous blue locks that were dangling around a peacefully beautiful face were all that encompassed her vision as she finally settled herself back on the bed. The second she turned around, she could feel the wanting to kiss her girlfriend surfacing beneath her. Her eyes couldn't break away from Chloe's lips as she stared longingly at them.

 _'I'm sorry Chloe...but I can't help myself.'_

Small kisses were being planted softly on the punk girl's lips as she slowly awoke. Her eyes fluttered open as she witnessed her girlfriend planting one kiss after another on her, causing the bluenette to smile and kiss her girlfriend back with a passion.

Lips stayed locked on each other for a full minute, unmoving as the two girls held each other. It was a kiss that Max wished she could live in for the rest of her life, but eventually the lack of oxygen proved to be too much for her to handle.

"Mmmm" Chloe hummed as she pulled away from the now panting brunette. "You should wake me up like that every day."

Smiling at her girlfriend Max replied "I will try. But no promises that it'll always be so innocent."

"You are such a tease, Max."

"You know you love it."

"I do, and you." The sleep in Chloe's body was beginning to fade as she turned over on her back and held Max close to her body. "So, what are we up to today, Maximum cuteness? Just lying in bed with each other all day, clothing optional?"

A blush was working it's way over the young photographer's face as she spoke. "I really want to. I just want to shut out the world and kiss you all day long...but...we have to find out what happened with yesterday."

"Why? Why do we have to be the ones? Why can't someone else do it? Anyone else at all in the entire world? Why don't we go to the police and ask them for help or something?" Chloe pouted, over dramatically.

"I dunno...maybe because we've already done it once before? Because I have time traveling powers that no one else does? But wait a second. Did you just ask me to go to the police? Who are you and where is my anti-establishment girlfriend?"

"Ugh, you always have to be right. Fine. But Max..." Chloe was now sitting up on her bed, pulling her knees to her chest. "As much as I love you, I can't do this...this whole "save everyone" thing all the time. I'm so scared..."

The weight of the words were beginning to press on Max as she sat up next to Chloe and rubbed the small of her girlfriend's back softly. "What's wrong? Chloe, are you okay?"

"Max I...I'm dead meat. Your time travel powers don't work on me anymore...so...if I were to die...that would be it. I'd never be able to come back. I'm just so sacred Max because now I have a reason to be alive. I want to get old with you...but I don't know if that's..." her voice was beginning to trail off as her breath hitched slightly in her throat.

"Chloe...I know I'm not an actual expert on this...but something tells me that all of that is over. You will not die. I won't let you. I didn't go through everything I went through to let you go again."

"But I died like 20 times around you the last time we went on an adventure." Her voice was now slightly on the verge of breaking as her eyes were turning pink.

Feeling the tears coming, Max grabbed both of Chloe's hands and looked her deep in the eyes, trying to calm her down. "I know. But all of those were accidents. The one in the bathroom...I was given these powers to save you with them. That's the only explanation I can understand. Why else would the butterfly give me my powers again after you died? I think our destiny is to fix Arcadia Bay, together. But the rest of the times were all just accidents. The train was because of Frank. If he hadn't have come around, we would've been perfectly fine. Then...Jefferson..."

Instantly feeling the pain running through Max, Chloe turned her body and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl. "okay. I believe you Max. Just...I hate to sound so petty but...I want to be with you. I want to grow old with you and spend as long as possible with you. I want to make you as happy as you make me. So can we like...find a way to stop anything bad from happening to me? Some kind of Crazy Time Traveling Life Insurance Policy?"

Chuckling slightly at the words, Max let go of Chloe's hands and looked off the side of the bed, picking up the camera Chloe had given her. "Yeah. That would be easy. But Chloe, I can't...I can't live without you. So this isn't selfish. If you died, I don't think I could go on again. So don't be sad." Max smiled as she looked up into her girlfriends eyes. "You're never leaving me."

The smile from Chloe's face was one that melted Max's heart as she leaned in and kissed her again. Chloe allowed herself to completely melt into Max, drop all of her guard and just left the brunette complete her. It felt as if the kiss was filling in the holes that Chloe had left inside of her. Everything that ever made Chloe hurt was getting plugged up, all of her insecurities were melting away as she finally let Max become her everything. Her mind was a blank as she concentrated on nothing but kissing her, until she heard the hum of a camera eject a piece of film.

Pulling away quickly, Chloe looked at Max with laughter in her eyes. "You hippy. Did you just take a selfie of us making out?"

"Maybe...this way if I ever have to come back here, it'll be during a moment that I will want to come back to. Hell, I may just come back here for the fun of it sometimes."

"You brat. I can't come back to here whenever I want to kiss my girlfriend. So why can you?!"

"Because I am the time master! Bow."

Chloe laughed as she got up and walked over to her closet."Okay Max. If we have things to do today, we need to get going. So as much as I hate to say it, get some clothes on."

Max watched Chloe leave the bed and tried not to stare at her butt. She could feel Chloe's mood lighten up as she walked away from her, making her heart soar. It felt right to finally see Chloe pulling down her walls, let Max in. To see all of the anger now gone. All of her abandonment issues felt like they were melting away. It was only taking one week, but Max slowly making her more and more complete. She felt like the worlds greatest girlfriend for a moment, until a thought crept into her mind.

"Chloe, I just thought about something."

Still deep into her closet as she searched around for a specific shirt to wear, Chloe called over her shoulder "what is it babe?"

Giving into her desires, Max glanced down at Chloe's butt as she slightly bent over to look deeper into the closet."You never actually asked me out. We aren't technically official."

A small chuckle escaped the punk as she turned back around to her girlfriend. "Max, Max, Max...people don't really 'ask people out' anymore. You just both eventually decide that you're only going to do romantic things to only each other exclusively. It's not all mushy romance films and declarations of love."

Not letting that stop her, Max looked over at Chloe and put on her best fake whining voice. "But Chloe...I want to be asked out...I've never been asked out before. I want that romance from the only person I'm ever going to be with. I want to tell people how cute it was when you asked me out when we're old together in a nursing home. I want all the old and young ladies to be jealous of how amazing you are."

That made Chloe blush. "Okay, that makes sense. So then, Max Caufield, would you be my girlfriend?"

"That's it? That's not gonna melt any hearts when we're old ladies, Chloe."

"Dude, I'm not a mush machine. I can't just spew out cute shit whenever you ask me to. If you want something cute and meaningful, it is going to take some time."

"Okay, okay. I can wait. But you better make it worth my while, Price."

"Don't worry Max. I will." Chloe spoke softly with venerability.

Max soon followed suit and got out of bed herself. Walking over to Chloe's desk and unzipping the large black suitcase she was keeping her clothing in, Max picked out a shirt at random and slid it over her shoulders before sliding on her traditional gray hoodie. Fighting the urge to turn and watch Chloe dress, Max slid on her typical pair of jeans and laced up her shoes before spinning around and smiling at her girlfriend.

Turning back toward Max as she began to slide a shirt over her, Chloe smiled a devilish smile. "I knew you couldn't resist watching me dress."

"What if I actually couldn't?"

"Well, then I'd be screwed because I really want to do the opposite with you."

Fighting the blush on her face, Max changed the subject. "Okay. So I'm thinking we need to go somewhere that we can find more information about the Prescott's. Any ideas?"

Chloe shrugged on a black t-shirt before straightening it. "Hm. Well we could always break into their house. I mean, you're pretty good at snooping through peoples shit in their house. No offense. Plus with your bad ass rewind, we wouldn't have to worry about getting caught!"

"Yeah. Let's just break into the richest people in the entire town's house in the morning when they're all probably wide awake. I love it. I don't think rewind will help much if we can't even figure out how to get inside the place. I'm sure it has some crazy gate shit around it."

"Fine then. You name another place that we could find all sorts of tabs on the richest family around here? Somewhere else that is full of information on what the hell they're up to?"

It was as if Chloe had said the perfect combination of words; because at that exact moment, Max knew exactly where they needed to be. "Yeah...I think it's time we go to the cops."

 **Authors Notes:**

 **Hey yo. Welcome to episode 3 everyone. I hope you enjoy a nice, fluffy little chapter! This episode will be full of mystery and exploration, so there won't be too much more fluff to be had. But that being said, I hope you enjoyed it anyway!**

 **Sorry in advance if this episode comes out slower than previous ones. I just have so much going on in my life right now, and not all of it is good. But I promise it will come out, however quickly I can make it. But until then, be sure to stay tuned! Same Bat-Time! Same Bat-Channel!**

 **Until then, stay golden.**


	2. Chapter 2

The framing was perfect. In front of the brunette girl sat a squirrel, sitting perfectly on the park bench in the front of the Arcadia Bay PD. The bright gold of the pine bench was perfectly contrasting the dark brown of the squirrel. He was turned straight toward Max and seemed to be perfectly okay with being the subject of a photograph. His tail was curled perfectly, filling the right side of the frame, his nose turned up as if her were sniffing out something to nosh on, his arms pulled toward his body like he were a T-Rex. Everything about this shot was adorable and perfect. All Max had to do was snap the photo. Her finger had just begun to touch the shutter button when the door of the police station flung open and slammed against the wall next to it.

"I have rights!" A man slurred as he stumbled his way out of the door, tripping all over himself as he quickly crossed the parking lot. The man looked like he had never seen a shower in his life. The green flannel he was donning did not look strapping on him, it instead made him look more grimy than he would have previously. His footing slid over the top of each other as he stumbled off into the distance, mumbling to himself the entire time, completely captivating Max's attention. Turning her attention back toward the park bench, Max discovered the squirrel was no longer anywhere around her.

"Damn it..." she exhaled as she slammed her camera against her leg.

Closing in behind her with a look of confusion on her face, Chloe placed both her hands on the shorter girls shoulders. "What's up babe?"

"Freaking drunk asshole. I had a really cute shot of a squirrel on the bench, but he screamed and slammed doors and ruined it." The pouting in her voice sounded sincere, so Chloe wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and kissed her cheek.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find more pictures soon, Max. If you want a really cute shot of something later, why don't you just take a selfie?"

Smiling to herself, Max wrapped her arms around Chloe's and pressed the back of her head into her shoulder. "Or a picture of us."

"Nah, wouldn't want to break the space time continuum with something that cute." Letting go of Max, Chloe extended her arm and wrapped her fingers around Max's. "Come on babe, let's get this shit over with."

Max followed next to her girlfriend as they made their way toward the door of the large, gray, concrete building. "What's the rush?"

"Um, I've been spending the last 5 years trying to stay out of the hands of Arcadia Bay's 'finest', and now we're just walking right in. Why would I be happy about that?"

"Good point, but it's not like you're being drug in handcuffs."

Max didn't even need to see Chloe's face to know she was smirking. "Too bad. I'd love if you put handcuffs on me."

The glass door swung open as Max placed her hand on the aluminum door handle. The very second she entered the station, as the sights of brown and off white filled her vision. Interior of the station was something f a strange duality; inviting yet intimidating. The floor was a slightly dark, dirt colored shade of brown, while the walls were that generic, boring white. The girls could see a set of double doors on the wall to their left, and an ever extending hallway lined with doors to their right. In the dead center of the room was a window with a view to the rest of the police station behind it. Sights of desks and officers walking around filled the gray background behind the older woman sitting at the window.

She was a relatively older officer, nearing the possible end of her career. Her white curly hair hung the top of her head as she placed the corded phone down on the receiver. Tired brown eyes met the two girls as a smile crept across the older woman's mouth. "Hello girls. Looking wonderful today! As much as I love seeing you're faces happy and alive, I hate to see you two back here."

A feeling of confusion washed over Max as the woman spoke. A feeling that also must have made it's way over Chloe, as Max could see the taller girl shrugging out of the corner of her eye at her.

"Um, I'm sorry, what?" Max's voice was slightly breaking from a nervous laugh as she spoke.

"Oh come now girly." The office spoke with her hands cocked on her hips. "I know you saw a lot of officers the last time you were here, but you have to remember me. They say that the older one's are the one's with memory problems. It's me honey, Officer Mulder. I gave you the coffee and snacks during your questioning. But this must be the girl you were here talking about that day. I'm so glad to see you made it through all that trouble."

Max was beginning to understand what the woman was insinuating as she spoke. She could feel her body subconsciously grabbing one of her elbows with her free arm. "Right, how could I forget. Thank you for all your help back then. That was...really hard on me. On us."

"I can imagine. I don't know what I would've done being in your shoes. I can't say I'm surprised to see you here though. We could barely keep you from sprinting away to the hospital that afternoon." The older woman turned toward Chloe and chuckled slightly. "I don't know if she ever told you, but she nearly escaped trying to see you. Keep friends like this around! You two really are quite the story. You should think about selling it to the papers, even as crazy as the story actually is."

 _'You have no idea.'_

"Yeah...the newest love story for the country to get into next week." Max's hand quickly dropped from her elbow and gripped Chloe's tightly.

"Oh my. Now it all makes sense...good for you two. I had no idea that story had such a happy ending to it." A smile worked it's way over the woman's entire face. Her eyes seemed to light up as she looked over Max and Chloe. "You don't let no one tell you that you can't love each other. Love is love, and you two make an adorable couple." A giddy feeling was spreading over Max as the older woman spoke.

"Now" the woman said as she folded her arms and looked over the two girls with a slight smirk to her face. "What can we do for you girls today?"

"We're just both here to see Officer Barry. We have something we need to talk to him about."

"Well, his office is just down the hall to your right, last door. But he isn't in right now. You may want to try again tomorrow. He's at home asleep. Poor thing was up all night with paperwork about the Prescott case." A frown replaced the woman's smile as she looked down at the desk in front of her. "Such a shame it happened. That boy was trouble, but it's always so sad to see something end like that."

"Thanks for the directions." Chloe spoke almost monotone as she pulled Max behind her, striding with large steps down toward the police officer's door. "That was hella weird. So you got pressed on by the asshat's in blue?"

"Yeah. Makes sense that they would question the only witness to you getting shot though. Maybe I'll have a little bit of power here now. It seems like we're heroes or something in this place."

Chloe laughed slightly. "Yeah. Imagine that, me a hero around here. The times they are a changin'."

The door to officer Barry's office felt almost cliché. It was a large, light brown door with privacy glass occupying the top half. Scribed into it with black, glued on letters was the sergeant's name.

"Look at that, like a fucking old ass detective show on black and white TV. He really is taking this shit seriously."

"Yeah, but maybe it's a cliché for a reason. I mean, doesn't it look hella iconic?"

Looking over at Max with a look of surprise on her face, Chloe flashed her girlfriend a smirk. "I will never get used to hearing you say hella. But it sounds super adorb coming out of you."

Rolling her eyes, Max placed her hand on the door knob and tried to open the door only to hear the sound of clunking metal. "Shit." she immediately sighed as she looked at her girlfriend. "Of course it's locked."

"No problem Max." Chloe smirked as she raised her boot backwards as high as she could before swinging it forward with all her momentum, kicking the knob clear off the piece of standing oak. The loud thud resonated through the empty hallway as the piece of metal fell to the ground. Air went completely still. For a brief moment, Max stood in simple shock. Her brain was having a difficult time processing what was happening, until Chloe swiftly pushed her into the open door.

The sounds of guns being cocked could be heard coming from outside the doorway, as every available cop in the station made their way toward the source of the sound. "Max!" Chloe yelled as she shut the door behind her. "Dude, rewind! Quick! The cavalry is coming with lots of guns!"

She felt herself snap out of the haze she was standing in, still replaying the sights of Chloe kicking in a door playing in her mind. Max quickly snapped her arm up to shoulder length and allowed time to once again flow backwards around her. As much as she honestly loved the feeling of time bending around her – minus the headaches – Max couldn't get used to watching things rewind around her. Watching something undo itself was...weird. Wrong even. Probably because it is wrong.

As soon as time began to flow back in a forward motion, Chloe whipped around and flung her arms in the air dramatically."Dude, you totally almost got us both fucking shot!" Chloe's voice was somewhere between angry and joking, making it hard for Max to actually decipher her words.

Her brow furrowed as she looked her girlfriend right in the eyes. "What do you mean _I_ almost got us shot? You almost got us fucking shot Chloe! You can't really be blaming me for that!"

Chloe's face instantly melted from a fake anger to a worried hurt. "I'm sorry, I was just kidding, Max." Even Chloe's voice felt sorry, causing Max to internally kick herself.

Closing the distance between the two, Max placed a kiss on the bluenette's cheek. "I'm sorry Chloe. I didn't mean to freak out. I guess you just never get used to having guns thrown around...and that was fucking crazy. You totally broke a doorknob!"

Pulling Max in for a hug, Chloe gently ruffled the younger brunette's hair and smiled down at her. "No worries. I guess I'm just hard to read with my jokes sometimes. But duh, hanging around with a drug dealer will teach you how to do a bunch of illegal things."

Not wanting to press that matter, Max looked around the officer's office. The room was fairly well lit by the blinds that hung behind the desk in the room. Directly in front of the windows sat the large chestnut desk, lined with papers and manila folders. The desk itself looked cheap, as if it were particle board lined with a more expensive wooden paneling, that only seemed to highlight the fact that the desk was imitation. Slid underneath the desk was a small, also cheap, black desk chair. One that Chloe quickly slid herself into.

"Damn. You'd think they'd put down more money for some actual fucking chairs. This is almost just as good as sitting on the fucking floor."

"Chloe. You can't expect everywhere we break into to be just like Well's office."

"Yeah I can! I obviously have higher chair standards than you do." Chloe remarked, trying as hard as she could to sound sophisticated. "Okay. But seriously, this is like...the second time we've broken into an office and tried to steal information like this. Doesn't this feel kind of...been done before? Why aren't we mixing things up sista?! Let's come back when Officer Douche Nozzle is here and totally fuck with him! Punch him in the face and rewind! Or even don't!"

"Totally. Let's totally get arrested Chloe. Besides, why ruin a good thing? Let's just get what information we can and bolt."

A small squeak came out of the chair as the punk leaned back and began clicking away at the computer in front of her. "Fine fine. Well come join me girlfriend, let's try to find something buried in his files."

Walking back behind the desk, Max stood next to her girlfriend and leaned in, looking over the computer screen. "Okay, so I have a lot of luck with email's it seems. Try there first?"

"Deal. But um, what do you think you're doing?" Chloe spun very slowly over toward her girlfriend and smiled at her.

A nervous smile plastered itself on Max's face as her eyes darted back and forth. "Um...standing here and helping you?"

"Exactly the problem. Why are you standing..." Chloe began as she scooted her chair out slightly, "when there is a perfectly good seat right here?"'

A deep blush quickly worked it's way over Max's face as she looked down. Chloe was gently patting her lap, a sincere smile replacing the devious one from earlier. Hesitating a bit, Max finally sat down on Chloe's lap and made herself slightly comfortable, or as comfortable as she could.

 _'Okay Max. Just sitting on the worlds cutest girl's lap. Alone. In a locked room. You can do this. Just try not to do anything weird or sexual somehow. You got this.'_

"Hey." Chloe spoke from behind Max, snapping her out of her trance. "I think I have something."

"What?" Max was now leaning forward, face concentrated on the screen intensely.

"A total lady boner."

Without even turning around, Max gently elbowed her girlfriend in the shoulder. "Shut up! Or I swear to dog, I will make things uncomfortable for you."

"You couldn't if you tried." Chloe snickered. "Not possible when the hottest chick you've ever seen is sitting on your lap."

"Oh?" Max smiled as she pressed her body back slightly into Chloe and gently wiggled her butt against Chloe's lap. "So a little lap dance wouldn't-"

"Okay! Okay. Stop. I'll be good." Chloe puffed as she straightened herself in the seat. "On a serious note though...I think I already did find something. Check it out."

Max studied the screen once again. "Already found a secret file in his C: drive? How'd you manage that?"

"You don't mess with Zero Cool." Chloe laughed.

"Did you really just make a Hackers joke?"

"So you can make one in your journal, but I can't say one? Lame Caufield."

"I'm supposed to be the dork, remember? You're supposed to be all 'mosh pits' and 'thrashing'."

"Okay, _shaka brah._ Whatever you say."

A small laugh escaped Max as she rolled her eyes. "Okay, well what did you find?"

Chloe leaned forward slightly, peeking over her girlfriend's shoulder as she spoke. "Okay, so like, half of these are like saved straight from the web. He didn't even bother renaming them from his email. Like seriously though, who the fuck still email's things? But look, all of the files in this folder are totally named...really creepy shit."

"Wow, they really are..."

Moving the mouse, Chloe used the pointer and clicked on one of the emails. "Weird..." Chloe said as she shivered in her seat. "Only .jpeg attachments it seems. 'Wind', 'Rain', 'Sacrifice'...okay no. I am not clicking on any of these. This is hella creepy. Can we please go?"

"Click on 'Wind'. We need to get something out of this."

"Okay dude...but if it's fucking gore I am so out of here."

As soon as the image bled its way down the screen, a look of shock washed over Max's face. "Chloe. I saw that on the back of the lighthouse. It's a wind glyph...holy shit. What if that's why the lighthouse wasn't destroyed? What if this somehow protected us?"

"Please. Let's go." Chloe begged.

"This shit is getting way deeper than I thought it would get. Sean put this up on the lighthouse. But why?"

Removing her hand from the mouse, Chloe wrapped her arm's around Max's waist. "Okay, so can we please go now babe?"

"Not yet. There's like ten attachment's here baby. We can do this." Trying to assure Chloe and calm her as much as possible, Max placed one of her hands over both of Chloe's arms and gently stroked at her skin. As soon as she did, She felt Chloe gently squeeze her tighter."Just let me open one more. Shipment seems so...regular. So plain. Maybe there's something there..."

Clicking on the email brought up another attachment. As the image opened to the screen, Max leaned in even closer and tried her best to examine what she was seeing.

"Okay...so it's a shipping receipt..." Max spoke softly as she felt Chloe's chin rest on her shoulder. "It looks like it's addressed to a SP..."

"Prescott." Chloe whispered as she squeezed Max tighter. "Look dude...you can totally see a boat in the background. It looks like a fishing boat."

Max sat back against her girlfriend and let the words sink into her brain for a moment. The only conclusion her mind could seem to come up with made it's way out of her mouth. "The harbor...?"

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Hey yo. So, here we go.**

 **Firstly, I am so, incredibly sorry for how long this took. This chapter was just...okay. So things started happening in my life that really got in my way. I won't talk about it, but just know that it wasn't good, and that I had to readjust for a bit afterwards. Then on top of that, work has been hectic lately and all. So I had external forces at work trying to stop me.**

 **But then, there was the chapter itself.**

 **So, I am dead tired of looking at this chapter. I have rewritten it three times. Three. The first time, my original plan, was to have a long, complicated chain of events that would cause Officer Barry to leave his desk. Originally, he would have had his desk out with the other officers, not a private room. Then Max would have to have Chloe distract an officer, Max would have to spill coffee on his lap, at a certain moment to have him knock over a lady and then he would have to follow her and apologize kinda. It was IMPOSSIBLE to write. So, I decided to go with your typical conversation branching path, ala Frank in Episode 4 with the book. But that proved to be just as hard to write. So, instead you get this. I know, it's eh, but I really NEED to move on. There's much more important, and better things to come. Honestly, Episode 3 has been harder for me, and will probably be the most off because I want to play around with new things. I promise that Chapter 3 will come out much sooner, and that it will be much better. But please understand that if I don't publish this and move on, I will sit here forever and get burned out. I hope you understand the drop in quality. That being said, I hope you enjoy what I did do enough. I don't even feel like a silly sign off, so I'll just thank you again for being paitent and understanding with this chapter, and know my heart was in the right place.**

 **Until next time, stay golden.**


	3. Chapter 3

"Dude!" Chloe's voice was barely above a whisper, with a bit of strain in it. "Get down!" After fumbling to grab on to something solid for a few seconds, her fingers found it's way to Max's shirt and pulled her down beside her. Time seemed to stand still as the two girls sat silently behind a large wooden box covered in a blue tarp. The tarp gave out a muffled crinkle as the young photographer placed her back against it; as a slight groan gave way as the old, rickety dock adjusted to the two girls kneeling on it.

Heat poured out of the sun, that was now perched in the direct middle of the sky without a cloud in sight. A cool blue emanated down on the water, causing the entire bay to almost have an ethereal glow, as the bright yellow from the sun reflected back onto the metal hulls of the ships around them. Each boat docked deem to harshly contrast the deep azure of the water surrounding them. Small splashes gently filled the background as water gently tread around the dock and fishing boats aplenty.

"Holy shit dude." Chloe whispered, her eyes full of an intensity, back placed firmly against the tarp. Her skin immediately regretted this decision as the heat reflecting off the tarp slightly burned her back. "I had no fucking clue he would be here!"

"I guess the picture was really recent..." Max whispered as she turned her body back toward where the two men were standing, resting on her knees. She moved slowly and deliberately, making her way to the side of the blue piece of cover and gently peaked around the crate. Tarp folded beneath her fingers letting out a small crinkling sound as brunette bangs peeked around the side of the crate.

"Be careful babe." The punk girl next to Max spoke, staring with a slight fear in her eyes.

Max could feel the concern in Chloe as she stared at her. It was something about her eyes, the way they bore into her made her feel an even greater pressure to not get seen. Smiling slightly to try and ease her girlfriend's mood, Max placed her hand over the bluenette's. "Don't worry about me, I got powers remember? I am a Titan of Terror! Nothing can stop the Mighty Max!"

But those words seemed to do nothing to lighten the fear behind Chloe's eyes."Yeah. But super powers don't do us any good if you get fucking shot. So just be careful, for me?" A small crease found its way across the bluenette's cheeks as she smiled a forlorn smile; hard emphasis placed on the last two words in her sentence. Begging without words for her girlfriend to see just how much she meant to her.

A small thump seemed to skip in Max's chest. It was the smallest of gestures, yet somehow made the photographer internally melt. The feeling of being truly loved was one that she was sure would never feel get used to, just the way she wanted it. Carefully reaching over, fingers gently wrapped around Chloe's and squeezed slightly, as a half lidded smile of pure affection spread across the freckled girl's face.

 _'Oh my dog Chloe. I can't wait to leave all this bullshit behind and lose myself in you.'_

"I'll be okay baby. I promise." Her voice sounded so sure, so extremely positive, that the fear inside of Chloe's chest began to slowly subside.

Brown hair now directly eased around the makeshift cover, giving her full sight of the scene in front of her. There were two men were standing not but 15 feet away, next to a rather large and expensive looking boat. It was painted almost entirely black, a glossy shine casting over it, completely contrasting the steel and wooden quaintness of the rest of the ships in the harbor. A perfect metaphor for Arcadia Bay.

In front of the two of them lie another crate, exactly the same as the one that was being used as cover.

"Well...it certainly is smaller than I thought it would be. But maybe there's two halves. That must be what the second crate is for. It must be two parts of the same whole." Sean Prescott spoke as he traced the side of the wooden crate with his index finger before returning his arm back to being folded on his chest. His voice was calm and collected. It was a stark difference to that of his son. A voice filled with care and control with each syllable uttered, as if every single letter that made up every single word that came out of him were calculated. A white collar popped out the top of his brown blazer, matching exactly to the brown dress pants the man was wearing. "I do not understand it. I payed excellently to have it delivered in pristine condition, and yet no one can seem to follow simple instructions. Typical."

A long yawn was let out as Officer Barry scratched the back of his head. "It may be the way it was discovered, sir."

A light pause befell the man, before he nodded and spoke once more."Perhaps. The plan remains the same. Make sure it gets to the estates, I have a strict schedule to adhere to. Then please go home and get your rest." His head turned slightly, showing off the profile of his face as he looked over at the officer, placing his hand on the other man's shoulder. His expression was surprisingly soft, as if he weren't a mad man that had once orchestrated the death of an entire city. Sunlight beamed through the lens of his glasses and pierced right through Max's eyes, causing her to squint in the light. "I will need you in a major way, very soon. I know you're not aware of what's happening...but just know I appreciate it, and you." In an instant, his voice fell to a chilling low. "And please, make sure that no one knows of this. Any of this. Do whatever you have to, to make sure that it stays between us." Officer Barry simply nodded as his attention fell down to the top of the crate.

"Chloe" Max whispered as her back hit the blazing hot tarp behind her. Her eyes were set with an intensity as the azure orbs pierced into Chloe's.

On instinct, her grip around the photographers fingers tightened as her hands began to slightly shake. "What is it Max?"

Without skipping a beat, Max tightened her fingers back around her girlfriend's. "We have to get out of here...we have to hide somewhere. He's going to kill us if he finds us...we have to hide!"

Her eyes instantly began to dart, looking everywhere that she possibly could to try and find somewhere, anywhere at all to hide. Anywhere to keep her and her girlfriend safe. Her breathing was beginning to get shallow as thoughts began to collide in her brain, causing a dull roar to occupy everything inside of her mind. It felt once again like she might go insane, until she felt the familiar grip of slender fingers wrap around her wrist.

Blue eyes stared at her with a mixture of fear and care as Chloe pulled the brunette girl toward the boat, bobbing up and down in the water directly next to the two of them.

Scorching hot metal surged a brand new sensation up the young photographers arm as she steadied herself over the hull of the ship, before being pulled down to the floor. Green and brown stains encapsulated the bottom of the boat. Stains that had seem to come from ages of fishing, but still indistinguishable of exactly what the stains were from. Nausea began to gently bubble in Max's stomach as the thoughts of what exactly they could be lying on flew threw her mind. It began to take over all other thoughts in her head, until an arm snaked it's way underneath the girl and pulled her away from where she was lying.

"Holy shit Max..." Chloe's voice was barely above a whisper. "Do you think those assholes saw us?"

But Max didn't feel like answering. Right now, she could feel the panic beginning to dissipate throughout her as her face buried itself deeper into Chloe's jacket. The smell of lavender soap and men's deodorant filled her nostrils, along with the slightest hint of smoke. It was somehow the most calming smell that had ever entered her lungs. She wanted to get lost in it. Bottle it up and smell it for the rest of her life. It was the smell of Chloe Elizabeth Price, and it was heaven.

A gentle shake snapped the photographer out of her trance, as a voice whispered a little louder than it had before. "Do you think they saw us Max?"

All Max could do was shake her head. Words were still having a hard time making their way out of her throat, still gently encapsulated by fear.

Even though the waves were gently splashing over the sides of the boat, a seagull could be heard gawking in the distance, even with the panting of two terrified girls, the harbor still seemed to be somehow serenely quiet. Quiet enough even for Max to be able to make out the sounds of Italian leather shoes walking on an old, weathered dock. The small and slight squeak that followed every step was beginning to finally make it's way away from them.

It was as if the dam inside her brain was finally keeping the waters of panic out of her mind. She could feel her thoughts beginning to slowly stop bouncing around in her skull, her breathing becoming more normal, her grip on Chloe's jacket loosening. With time, Max started to feel her world become normal again.

The soft rocking of the boat in the gentle Bay waters was almost soothing for a moment, until Max realized just how hot the hull of the boat felt against her exposed skin, and the memory of just how disgusting the floor was crept it's way back into her mind. Stains of these colors shouldn't exist from just fishing. Disgust began to bubble back up within her, until a small kiss on her forehead snapped her body and mind out of any feeling of unease.

It was still amazing to Max just how easily Chloe could sway her emotions. All it took was the smiplest of gestures to pull her back from the brink. A smile pulled at Max's cheeks as thoughts of her girlfriend filled her mind, setting her in a happier mood.

Until a loud noise shattered the calm forming around her like a hammer to a window. A small musical chime. An in distinguishable one to her ears. The sound of her cellphone ringing.

Her hands fell to her pocket and flipped the vibrate switch with a speed she had never before felt her body move. All of a sudden, the small squeaks of shoes that would possibly cost more than Max's laptop, suddenly was nowhere to be found.

Air felt electrified. The tension was so think that it became hard to breathe. Fear encapsulated the two girls as the worst possible sound they could imagine filled their ears. The sound of small squeaks approaching them slowly.

Each and every footstep sent Max's heartbeats into overdrive. Seconds felt like hours as she lie there, clinging to her blue angel, paralyzed by the thick fear covering her body. Her movements felt impossible, as if she were drenched in glue, surrounded in a vat of honey. As hard as she tried to, her body refused to move. Louder and louder, closer and closer came the squeaks.

This was the end. This was how she would die. Clinging to Chloe in a boat, prodding her nose into business that wasn't hers one time too many. The footsteps felt almost upon them. They had to be just right outside the boat. Chloe let out a small whimper as she buried her face hard into the photographer's shirt. Max felt her eyes begin to well with tears, certain her demise was here. After fighting so hard, pushing time to the literal limits, denying that fate dictated her life, risking everything she had, everything was about to be over. Jefferson was for nothing, Nathan's suicide was for nothing, Kate was for nothing. As if someone had come in and pressed reset on her save file, rendering her progress moot. Shivers flew up her spine, sweat plastered to her forehead, bottom lip quivering as she heard the shoes climb onto the bottom rung of the ladder, placed outside the ship. Suddenly, almost as if sent by a higher power, she heard a loud groan come from somewhere. Somewhere that wasn't directly coming from the manicured murderer outside the boat, but rather, from further away.

"You are a cop aren't you? I told you guys to quit following me. I was innocent! I have rights!" The voice came out slurred and broken. The sounds of a highly drunken man. "Don't you follow me into my boat! I already been to the jail today and I ain't going back!"

The air fell silent again. Wind rushed past the boat and sent a small chill down Chloe's spine. After a few seconds of still, the sounds of gentle footsteps slowly dissipated into the distance.

Max let out a small breath of air, a breath she wasn't aware she was even holding. Nerves began to unwind, muscles began to relax as the sound of hard boots made their way toward the opposite side of the pier.

 _'Drunk guy, you may have ruined my shot, but you just saved me from getting shot. Call it even.'_

"Holy fuck..." Chloe finally spoke, shattering the bubble of silence that surrounded them. "That was so fucking hella intense." Her body slowly peeled itself off the hot metal, stretching its limbs with every movement. Without hesitating, the punk reached a hand out toward her girlfriend to help her up.

"Yeah...I was so scared." Max spoke as she took her girlfriend's hand and pulled herself off the grime below. "I thought we were gonna die."

"Maybe we should stop sticking our noses where they don't fucking belong eh?"

"I almost want to agree, but someone has to stop him. If we don't then I'll have more bullshit to go back and fix." Max's arms instantly snaked around her girlfriend's waist, squeezing her tightly. "I won't lose you again. So maybe from now on, we just act a little more carefully. Deal?"

Smiling as she felt her heart skip a beat, Chloe placed her arms around Max's shoulders, returning the hug. "Deal. So...to Pan Estates it would seem?"

"Yeah. But not just yet...I need this hug." Max smiled.

"Me too sista."

 **Authors notes:**

 **Hey yo. Been a long time hasn't it? Well, I had a lot of getting well to do. A lot of adjusting to my new life that honestly I didn't think would even happen as quickly as it did. I won't go on about it here, but just know that if you wanna know, you can shoot me a PM and I'll be happy to clue ya in.**

 **Not only did I need to get well, but I had a lot to prove with this chapter. I had to show that I could make something new, yet something I could be proud of. While this isn't my best, I am content with it. I tried suspense for the first time really, and I like to think I got it down.**

 **That all being said, I'm sorry for the wait. If anyone has jumped ship, I totally get it. I let some people down and it's not cool, but there's nothing I can do except move forward. But honestly, this is more akin to my actual writing. Sporadic as fuck. I'm not good at self discipline at all. Unless I have literally all the free time in the world. I am a bum and I know it. I will work on it. But I really hope this is better for all of you, and that you're still interested in this story. I secretly hope in my wildest dreams that I could someday pen the real LiS season 2. Pipe dream I know, but it's fun sometimes to pretend.**

 **Anyway, stay tuned everyone! I have cool things coming this episode still! Same Bat-Time! Same Bat-Channel!**

 **Until next time, stay golden.**


	4. Chapter 4

"And it'll happen once again, you'll turn into a friend. Someone who understands, sees through the master plan. But everybody's gone, and you've been here for to long, to face this on your own, but I guess this is growing up!" Chloe was belting, her voice booming from deep within her. Blue locks flew around the cab of the truck as the punk had a small mosh pit for one in her seat. Her fists smashed against the steering wheel with a smile plastered on her face. Sounds of one of the most iconic punk guitar riffs ever written blared through the speakers, above the normal level that most humans would even consider loud; making the truck a mini punk show all in it's own.

Right now, Chloe was in her zone. This was how she lived, this was how she loved. This, was just what she needed after the shit show from earlier. The final note rang out as Chloe straightened herself in her seat, sweat beginning to lightly stick her hair to her forehead.

"Holy fuck balls Max. If you don't like Blink-182 then we are so done." The punk chuckled as the silence between tracks filled the once overbearingly loud space of the cab.

Reaching out her hand. Max turned the volume down to a more human level as the beginning of the next track began. "Chloe. I may be a hipster or whatever, but of course I love Blink."

"Fuck yeah you do! I wouldn't really break up with you though." The punk smirked as she pulled her car in toward a long, dirt path that cut right through the woods. "Just so you know."

Terrain changed beneath the tires as they attempted to adjust to driving over roads not designed for traction. The dirt and gravel filled pathway was an unmarked drive into the northeast of the Bay. It was a curious little path, one that seemed to be as mystical and enchanting as the walk through the forest to the lighthouse. A certain calming feeling seemed to reside in the trees themselves, seeming as if they held untold secrets deep within them, just waiting to be discovered. Knowing Max's luck, she would discover them soon.

Punk music was blaring through the speakers, changing from Blink 182 to NOFX; and Chloe was in her zone. Her eyes were unblinking as she stared at the light brown path, contrasting with the light green grass surrounding it. It seemed as if she hadn't just been curled up, cooking in the sun, clutching to her girlfriend for dear life at the bottom of a disgusting fishing boat. As if nothing had happened at all. Instead, her lips softly mouthed the words, fingers gently tapped against the wheel with the guitar line. Chloe seemed to be having a relatively good time, and it wasn't sitting well with Max.

The photographer rested her head against the back of the seat, allowing her eyes to watch the brown of tree trunks pass her as they carefully made their way further and further into the woods. Her eyes would catch a specific tree, following it until it passed out of her vision before snapping to the next one. Thoughts of almost dying were still on the front of her brain. She felt as if she were continually living through those chaotic, electric moments of fear over and over again, as if her mind refused to let her let go. Thoughts of her own demise would almost be bearable, if the thought of how unaffected her girlfriend acted wasn't echoing as loud as the thoughts of her near demise was.

"You okay babe?" The bluenette's voice filled with curiosity as well as concern was just enough to snap the hipster out of her trance.

Max pulled her face away from the window slowly, gazing over at her upbeat punk of a girlfriend before speaking. "I'm just...I'm still so terrified about earlier. We almost died. Again." Fingertips began to poke at torn spots in the vinyl seat next to her. It was one way to try and distract her mind from everything around her. "I keep replaying things in my mind and it's paralyzing me. I feel like everything I've done is resting on my shoulders right now. But you seem so...okay. I don't know why I can't just be that way. Not let these things get to me."

Suddenly, the car fell completely silent. Chloe had turned the volume of her punk CD down. It was a small gesture, but one that showed Max that Chloe was serious about this conversation; slightly relieving her.

For a few seconds, Chloe nor Max spoke. Sounds of the rocks and dirt being flung up from the tires were the only audible sound in the cab."I know...I know I seems like I'm super stoked and happy. But, I'm not." Chloe finally spoke with a long sigh. "I'm just trying to not think about it. I can't even fucking think about it. I..." she swallowed hard "almost lost you Max. I can't help but to think that we shouldn't even be fucking out here anymore. I don't want to do this. I don't want to die, to almost die, to force you to have to save me. I don't want to worry that you'll get hurt or that everyone is going to be wiped off the face of the Earth if we don't save them all." Knuckles were beginning to whiten as Chloe gripped the wheel tighter as she spoke. As if she were trying to anchor herself to something, trying to keep it together. "But we have to. You have this amazing power, and I'm your trusty, mega hot sidekick who just happens to be super lucky enough to be your girlfriend. So I'm doing one of the only thing's I know will chill me out is all. Trust me, if I brought beer or weed with me, I'd be doing that shit too."

The words had only left Chloe's lips a few seconds before Max took a breath and lifted her gaze to meet the punk's. "I'm sorry Chloe. I'm just having a hard time too. I feel so emotionally drained all the time. Like I'll fall apart at any given moment. I just thought that you were okay and it was making me feel...broken. Like I can't handle anything."

"No fucking way dude." An airy laugh following Chloe's thought. "You are so goddamn strong that I literally don't understand how you're doing it. You've gone through fucking time and saved people, faced your fears, dealt with survivor guilt and all other kinds of bullshit I probably don't even know about. You're a fucking warrior Max." A smile tugged at Chloe's lips as she gazed across the seat at her girlfriend. Her eyes were brimming with the slightest hint of sorrow, but her face seemed to beam with affection.

Max could do nothing but smile back at Chloe. It was a slightly sad smile, but Chloe was going to take the victory any way she could get it.

"Oh no. Fuck dude..." The punk's words were quiet as the car slowly came to a halt. "Shit balls!" She exclaimed, slamming her open palm against the top of the steering wheel.

Max instantly snapped back into reality. "What's wrong?" She asked, her fingers still tightly wrapped around the bluenettes.

Dramatically, Chloe's free hand flung forward, palm open and fingers sprawled out toward the windshield of the now stopped truck. "They fucking gated the place!"

Sure enough, there it was. Not even fifty yards away from them stood a large, metal gate. Directly next to the gate lined a wall, equally as high, made entirely out of concrete. The whole wall must have been 10 feet tall, and seemed to stretch half a mile in each direction. Admittedly, Max was too busy staring at her girlfriend earlier to even glance out the windshield.

"When the hell did they build this? Last time I came here it was mostly empty as shit!" Chloe whined as she deflated, her body slumping back into the seat behind her.

"Wait" Max spoke, trying not to let out the giggle building in her throat at how dramatic her girlfriend was acting. "You've been here before?"

"Yeah. Several times." The punk reached inside her jacket and pulled out her cigarettes with her free hand and lit one before continuing. "Rachel and I used to come here when we needed to really get away. On days where even being in Arcadia Bay was too fucking much. We would come out here and light fires and tag the concrete slabs for fun. Get super wasted, listen to music...we had a blast out here. But it was usually cut short by some construction worker shooing us off in the morning." Max could tell, just by looking at Chloe's eyes as she talked, that the memories were passing by as she spoke, fleeting in front of her eyes. "It's fucking crazy to think it's like a year ago that she disappeared now. I mean, it isn't for me. But it is in reality." Smoke filled the teen's lungs before, letting the burn fill her chest as more and more memories flooded her mind. "I wonder if I'll ever get used to that. Being in a completely different timeline."

Max simply chuckled. "I have been in like, five different timelines now. No, you don't ever get used to it really. It feels like Donnie Darko all the time now. I don't know what's happening right at the moment, I just know it's crazy."

That made Chloe chuckle. "Great description. Nailed that movie for sure Max." Taking another quick drag, Chloe turned toward Max and exhaled gently. "So, I wonder, what kind of movie would we be anyway? I mean, there are countless amounts of movies about time travel right? You got, like, shitty movies like Timecop, which obviously isn't us. Then there's like Doctor Who, which is kinda you but without the booth. Which we should totally get."

"I think if we get one, we would be much more like Bill and Ted."

Laughing aloud, Chloe lifted her hands and pretended to strum an air guitar, imitating the movie for Max, who quickly followed Chloe in her laughter. "Well, then you got your bad ass Donnie Darko, which I guess is similar. But then you have the Butterfly Effect."

"Not that great of a movie." The brunette chimed.

"Says the girl who loves Final Fantasy Spirits Within." Chloe chided.

Rolling her eyes, Max grunted "It isn't that bad."

"Tell that to their dead eyes dude." By this point the cigarette had burned out, so outside the window the butt went. "But I mean, there is that butterfly that follows us."

"Too easy though."

"Agreed. But I mean...we are in a different timeline now, that we don't know the history of but every one else does. That sounds a lot like Butterfly Effect."

"I suppose that's right." The words began to slowly unravel in Max's mind. The similarites were really apparent to her all of a sudden. "Wait. But I am much better than Ashton Kutcher in this situation, right?"

A loud laugh escaped Chloe's lungs. "For sure dude. You're also hella cute. But like" Chloe paused. Her nerves were beginning to bubble within her, as a certain thought entered her brain. One that had been on her mind all day, that she had been shelving for another time. "I dunno. This shit is making me realize that we really don't have as much time as we think we do. Irony right? Us not having time."

Max simply nodded as she watched the gears turn in her girlfriend's mind.

"I mean like...do you think we..." the words were choking her, barely able to be forced from her chest. "Do you think we ever...you know?" A blush quickly spread over Max's entire face, turning her into what she felt like, was a lobster.

It was something that Max hadn't ever really thought about. Sex was a thing that Max tried not to think about much. Something that was, unlike every other teenager, not on the front of her brain. She was sure that someday she would be ready for it, but she wasn't ready to rush into anything .

That wasn't to say that she had never thought about it. That fantasies never crossed her mind. But that's where they stayed, the occasional fantasy. Truly going through with it was not something that Max ever gave thought. "I-I don't know. I mean...we were in a relationship for like, six months now right? That's an awful long time to not be...you know." The flush on her cheeks were brightening even further at this point. "And to be honest...you know that I've already had a couple of thoughts about you...and it's been no time at all. I..." she swallowed, trying so hard to mask her embarrassment, "I would think we did."

"See? We missed both of our first times due to time being all fucked man!" Her fist slammed against the steering wheel as she spoke. "I mean, we still haven't in all actuality, but we have! All at the same time! Fuck this is goddamn crazy...this is so crazy dude."

Max could see that her girlfriend was visibly shaking. Her hands were trembling as she gripped the steering wheel, trying to control her breathing, her eyes were staring straight ahead, looking slightly glassed over as if she were lost in thought. "Baby" Max spoke gently as she slid across the seat toward the bluenette "what's wrong? Are you okay?"

A long sigh escaped from the punks lip's as she felt two comforting hands placed on her shoulders. "Yeah" a small smile crept across her cheeks as she turned to face the photographer. A softer look replaced the once glazed over fear lying within, one that pierced directly into Max's soul. "Max..." she began, her voice soft and exposed; "I can't stand the thought that someday, another form of us will get to do everything we want to do." The worry on Chloe's face was slowly vanishing, being replaced with contentment as she spoke. "I know you said you wanted some horribly sappy thing from me, so when people ask you about how I asked you out, you would have a great story right?" A smile was beaming across her face.

"Yeah..." Her answer was more nervous than it was sullen.

"Well, I'm Chloe fucking Price, and I never do things as expected. So..." her right hand quickly slid into the left pocket of her blazer, pulling out a golden ring. Her eyes stared with an intensity, directly into Max's, tears already beginning to pool in the corners. "Maxine Caulfield, my best friend, my partner in time, my wonderful girlfriend who I could not live without. In a complete and total literal sense...will you marry me?"

Stunned wouldn't come close to how she felt. It felt like all at the same time, the wind were knocked out of her, her heart ceased to beat, and her mouth went completely dry. "Ch-Chloe." Max was beginning to shake now as well. "Y-you're serious?"

"I may be kinda fucked up Max, but I would never kid about this. I want to marry you."

Everything stopped for a moment. Time seemed to freeze, even around Chloe as the words sunk into her skull.

 _'Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit. She is serious. I know I said I wanted something crazy, but is this what I had in mind? Max. Think this through. Chloe is the only person you have destroyed time for. She's been your best friend for most of your life. She's even been the worlds greatest girlfriend...but is she wife material? Okay...think about it. Imagine yourself at 40, and you're not in your dream job, in a crappy house, but she's sitting next to you on the couch. Does that make you happy?_

It was right then that Max knew her answer. Her mind set the entire scene. The couch was from Goodwill, a place Chloe and Max both could agree was bad ass; the TV was small, atop a cheap, Ikea stand; the walls didn't look great, the carpet was worn completely down in some places, and the ceiling had a water spot in it. But with Chloe next to her, everything felt okay. Things might be tough, she might not live the insane life she wants, but it was all okay. Because she had the one thing that made it all worth it.

"Yes." Max whispered as tears filled her eyes. "Yes Chloe. A million times yes!" By the end of her sentence, her voice rose to an almost shout as she flung her arms around Chloe's waist. The grip Max was holding was almost quite legendary, leaving Chloe almost breathless as she squeezed the brunette back with the same intensity.

Tears were flowing freely down both of their faces as Chloe pulled away. Taking Max's hand, the punk gently slid the ring down her ring finger, a laugh escaping her as she did. All of the years of angst, the pain, the hurt seemed disappear when she saw the ring around Max's finger. Everything inside of Chloe that used to pool within her, eat away slowly at everything she had, dissipated.

Max could barely believe it. Her mind was still in a state of complete shock. The longer she stared at the ring, the more surreal it all felt. But it still felt right. There was one question still burning on Max's mind though. "Where did you get this?"

Wiping the tears off her cheeks, Chloe laughed once again. "It was dads."

Her brain could barely comprehend that. "Wh-what?"

"Yeah. Before we left this morning to go to the police station, I snuck into mom's room and took it from her drawer."

"Chloe" Max shook her head, moving her right hand to the ring, "I can't take this. I-"

"Yes." Chloe interrupted "You can. I already asked mom. We both want you to have it."

"Joyce knows about this?" Her eyes were now open as wide as they could get, her mouth slightly agape.

"Yes. It's where he would want it Max. He wouldn't want it in a box in a drawer, gathering dust and sad memories. He would want it somewhere where it could be appreciated. Somewhere it would make someone happy, especailly if that person made his only daughter the happiest girl in the world. And that's you."

Tears were now flowing completely freely. Max couldn't help herself anymore. Even though she was in a beat up pickup truck, sitting next to another mystery that could potentially get her killed, everything still felt perfect. It felt like her entire body was doing things by its own accord. The only thing she could control at this moment was where her lips were, and she forced them to be locked onto Chloe's.

Everything completely faded. Light, sound, all feelings except joy, and Chloe. Her entire life felt like it had been leading up to this moment, for the second time in her life. Last year, Max had become an adult. Her life had been thrust into a place where she had no choice but to decide. It was a decision that haunted her, with every waking moment. While it was a moment wrapped in sorrow, Max knew what she had to do. What the right decision was at that moment, even though nothing inside of her wanted to.

But this was different. This was something wonderful, something beautiful. Something that cemented the thought that everything she had done had not been for no reason. That it wasn't pointless. Even though that week of her life never technically happened, this moment made up for the six months of hurt she felt. For the five years of awkwardness and guilt she had for not ever having the courage to talk to the one person she cared about. But that didn't matter now. All that mattered was Chloe.

Finally, after the most gorgeous moment of her life, Max pulled away from her fiance and stared into her eyes. Everything was going to be different now. But in the best way.

Her heart felt ready to take on the entire planet. A new sense of accomplishment and hope coursed through her veins. Everything felt like for the first time in a very, very long time, that everything was okay.

Until she noticed the gray surrounding the two of them. A gray surrounded by trees displacing over and over again.

Of course.

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Hey yo. I know. I know. I know. You know you wanted it. I know I did. So here you go. Call it fan service if you want, but I know in my heart that they both deserve this. That both of them have gone through so much together that, no matter what, they would always be together.**

 **Now. Once again it seems that time is completely fucking up all around our heroes. What lies in store for them this time? What will they see here? Why does time keep doing this? Well, you're gonna have to stick around to find out. So stay tuned! Same Bat-Time! Same Bat-Channel!**

 **Until next time, stay golden.**


	5. Chapter 5

_'This is fucking great. Fucking. Great. Am I not even allowed to have one fucking moment in my life without something severely bullshit destroying everything? Am I not allowed to even bask in the glow of being fucking proposed to?! Fuck everything! Every-single-thing! I don't want this anymore!'_

Everything around Max was monochrome. Shades of harshly contrasting black and white blinked themselves in and out of existence, seemingly placing and displacing at random intervals with only a shade of gray set between where most color had previously existed. It was like the anti-thesis of nature; that which existed here had no roots set in reality, nothing that steadily evolved to adapt to its surroundings. But instead existed in a perpetual state of chaos, skipping out on the sheer laws of gravity and physics simultaneously. Colors seemed to cease to exist, except for the harsh examples at both ends of the spectrum, and an offspring in between. By all means, none of what was happening should ever have the chance to exist. But yet, here Max and Chloe were, walking around in this chaos.

While everything around her felt as if it were devoid of any and all color, Max felt as if she bled burgundy over her entire being. Her blood seemed to boil beneath her skin, burning her from within. Her muscled were scorched and threatened to sear out of her skin, veins perturbed nearly popping out of her body as she paced frantically next to Chloe's pickup.

All Chloe felt like she could do at this moment was be a bystander. Inside her mind, she could slightly empathize with Max. That everything is destroying itself around her everywhere she goes, how much bullshit she had dealt with, all the heartache and pain; but no matter how hard she tried, Chloe could never truly understand all the things her fiance had been through. Her throat itched with the prospect of fixing things, the ideals of using her words as she had before to help Alyssa or Kate, but words didn't seem to want to form. On one hand, she was just as frustrated as Max. The thing that she had been planning all day had turned to literal shit. It wasn't something that Chloe had thought about ever, but once the idea of marrying Max entered her brain, everything felt right. Like her life was leading up to that moment. On the other hand, her mind was in repair mode, trying to figure out how to get her fiance back to a more positive place. Finally, with a small squeak, she finally found the words to begin with. "Max, come on" Chloe began, standing next to her tailgate "It's gonna be okay." It was a start.

"No Chloe, it fucking isn't." Max spat. Her eyes were focused on the path of dirt directly in front of her, concentrating on the splotched ground below her where details of individual grains of dirt once existed, where life had once existed just like it was supposed to, that were now merely sloppily painted patterns of gray beneath her feet being trampled in the same patterns over and over again. "I mean look at this!" she exclaimed, pointing toward the ugly terrain, gently slowing her pacing. "This is not the definition of okay."

Rubbing the back of her neck, Chloe took a few steps toward the angry photographer. "Yeah, but I mean we don't deal with the usual okay you know? For us this is nothing. We've saved people, broken fucking time, you even ripped me out of a different reality. This is just another small blip for you Maximus. We kick time in the ass before breakfast!"

Suddenly, the pacing stopped. Words were bouncing around in her mind as eyes stayed focused on the splotched mess that was the ground. "That's the whole point Chloe." Max began, voice steady, back facing Chloe. Tears were beginning to leak from her ducts in the corners of her eyes. "I just experienced the happiest moment of my life, and I don't even get to enjoy it for very long! Instead, I have to fix the broken fabric of fucking time!" She spun around on her heel, looking Chloe directly in the face as she continued. Her arms flailed around with a dramatic fashion, desperately trying to accentuate her point. "I just want to be a person again Chloe...I'm so tired of being powerful. With great power comes great bullshit, and I just want to be a human being. I didn't ask for this!" Her shoulders slumped, as her entire body deflated, exhausted with everything.

A soft crunch sounded as grass bent beneath the foot of the blue haired punk. Compassion soaked her voice as she spoke. "No, you didn't. But look at you! You're rolling with all of this hella confusing bullshit like you fucking own it. You don't even realize all the bad ass shit you've done with your powers I'd bet, with all the amazing shit you've done!"

"Of course I do Chloe." Her voice softened, her eyes glistening with tears. "I wouldn't trade you for anything. But why is it my responsibility to save everyone now? Why can't I just be selfish and take these powers and fucking run?" Carefully stepping, Max closed the distance between her and bluenette, never breaking eye contact. "Why can't we just run away together and be happy? Not fucking worry about getting shot, or drugged, or nearly overdosed, or a fucking storm, or bullies, or the Prescotts, or fucking time tearing itself apart around me...I just want to go back to being the shy, nerdy, awkward girl you used to be best friends with..."

Chloe's eyes fell down to her fiance's hands; and slowly, with deliberate motions, gripped the brunettes fingers with her palms. Her fingers gently cupped around Max's, thumbs gently rubbing the middle knuckles of her fingers. A smile slowly beamed out of her as she stared at the delicate hands in hers before her eyes rose to gaze into the photographer's. "But you can't. You're not like everyone else, Max. You're wonderful. If anyone else would've got this power, they'd probably spend it making out with people like I would." A small chuckle escaped from the two of them. "But...not you. You went right to helping me, to helping Kate. You even tried to help Nathan Prescott, and he was a huge piece of shit. You're pure, Max. There's a reason that this power picked you. A reason you have it again, to do good again. I know you can. I know you don't mean anything you just said."

"I know" Max whispered as her body fell forward, her face resting in Chloe's shoulder. "I don't mean it...I just..." she swallowed hard, forcing down the bile of evil words. Words that had no merit, that had no reason to be in her throat, but somehow snuck inside. "I'm just scared is all. I don't know what I'm getting into anytime this happens. It's always something different."

Slender arms wrapped around the smaller girl, squeezing her tight. "But at least you don't have to do it alone. I'm here for you."

"But you can't help me forever Chloe." Max's words were gently muffled by Chloe's shoulder.

"Bullshit I can't." Chloe smiled. "Even when I'm dead I still follow you as a butterfly apparently. You can't get rid of me." She gently moved her arms from around Max's shoulder blades, up toward her shoulders, placing her hands on them. "But I'm staying here this time. With you. Forever."

A warm smile shone across Max's face as she looked up at the punk. "Thank you Chloe."

"It's what I'm here for babe. Y'know, except to get into all sorts of trouble and look hella fine." The punk smiled back just as warmly.

"You're such a dork." Max laughed, gently pushing Chloe's shoulder.

"Yeah. But you love it." Chloe laughed back.

"I do."

"Good." An arm quickly snaked it's way around Max's shoulders and pulled her into the taller girl's side. "Okay" Chloe began "so, now we go over to that one weird spot and get magically transported to another time, right?"

Leaning into the girl, Max let out a contempt sigh, finally relaxing a bit. "I guess. I mean, it's what always worked before."

"You know, that's a good point. This happens a lot. What causes this shit?"

"I honestly have no idea." She said as she gently inhaled Chloe's scent into her nose as they walked toward the one still spot. "It's only happened a few times now, but I don't get why it happens when it does."

"Well, what happened the first time it happened?"

"I..." Max swallowed, not completely comfortable talking about it. The soft comfort starting to fall away from her. "I was uh, crying."

Chloe merely looked down at her feet. "Because of the photo right?"

"Yeah..." Her face slightly bowing to look at her feet as well.

"What about the next time?"

Perking her head back up to look the taller girl in the face. "Well, the next time was when I saved you."

"However that works."

"Yeah, and I was at the lighthouse then."

"Okay wait" Chloe began, stopping just in front of their destination. "Max, but didn't I totally read in your journal that you...were crying? Right before this shit went hella insane, you were crying."

The realization was slowly starting to dawn on Max. "Oh my god...I was. Then after that was Kate..."

"After we just got done fighting...and you were..." Chloe gently recoiled her body away from Max, turning her entire body toward her as she spoke. "Wait a second. Max, that one time that you went to save Kate on the roof; like last year...how did you feel?"

Max turned, facing Chloe. Her eyes scanned the fabric of the tank top she was wearing in front of her, trying to keep a grip on reality. "I...I was really upset. Kind of heartbroken, scared as shit..." Her head flew back up, looking her fiance directly in the eyes. "Chloe...a-are my emotions tied to my powers?"

"I don't know, Max." She could see the worry beginning to fester itself inside of Max; the doubt beginning to circulate inside of her head. "But every time you went back, you fixed something right? You righted some kind of wrong or some shit."

Max nodded.

"Dude...that old lady totally said something about time collapsing! So you're stopping everything from getting super fucking destroyed. It's like you're...fixing everything when you get sad..."

 _'Holy shit. Am I really the reason for all of this bullshit? Are my powers tied to something even bigger than I imagined?'_

"So...I did this. I stopped that other Kate with my emotions...I brought you back with them...this is so fucking insane."

"But I still don't get why I came back with you. I don't understand."

"Neither do I Chloe...but, think about it. You said I'm fixing things somehow right?"

Chloe nodded.

"So..."A smile blossomed on her face, beaming into the punk in front of her. "That just means that you were supposed to be here. That you and I were meant to be in the same timeline. I mean, you helped me save Kate! You're making me go into this fucking timeline! I guess...I guess I actually _do_ need you." Max sprung forward, spreading her arms wide before latching them closed around Chloe's neck, squeezing for dear life.

That caught her by surprise. After standing for a brief moment from emotional shock, Chloe wrapped her arms around Max and squeezed. "I guess it's a good thing I'm so hella hot, otherwise you would be screwed into doing this alone. You're welcome by the way."

"Shut up, you nerd." Max chuckled.

"But we've already been over this, Max. You love it."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you're not a dork."

"True, but I'm your dork."

Max pulled away from her fiance. "Forever." A smile conquering her face, Max looked over her shoulder toward the spot. "So, I guess we should get this weird shit over with already, shouldn't we?"

Chloe shrugged. "I dunno. We could try that thing I suggested last time. You know...doing it while time is totally frozen?"

Max blushed, shoving Chloe's shoulder. "I need to get a spray bottle of cold water for you, don't I?"

"Sounds kinky."

"Chloe!"

"You're supposed to wait until we're naked to say that."

"Chloe Elizabeth Price." Max spoke, spacing out each word with a sternness in her voice.

"That's my name, save your voice babe. You're gonna be tired from screaming here in a minute."

"I will leave!"

"I'm just kidding, Max." Chloe hesitated, a sneer spread across her cheeks; "mostly anyway. I'll stop...for now. I make no promises for future Chloe however. But I wonder what's inside this place? I mean, you've never been here before right?"

"I didn't even know this place existed. I have no idea what's going to happen. I'm super confused."

"Well, I guess for a chance I guess that makes two of us."

Fingers slowly slid down Chloe's wrist, wrapping themselves around the long digits on her hand as the two of them walked slowly toward peace. Their pace steady and easy, their fingers interlocked, hearts beating in unison. Together they walked out of the chaos and into the stillness, their bodies as one, their hearts united. Chloe and Max once again walked toward something that neither of them understood, a place that could end the two of their lives, a place full of not only untold obstacles, but untold dangers. Yet, together, none of that mattered. All that mattered was that they were together, that the chaos was behind them.

As one, they traversed through everything they didn't understand into more things that they didn't. A smile crept across both of their lips as the world faded around them, bringing forth the past, assembled around them to bring forward something new, something that called to be fixed; and as long as they had each other, none of it felt impossible.

 **Authors Notes:**

 **Hey yo, welcome to Ch. 5. So somethings have been kind of explained? Kind of? Yeah, some of it is as much of an explanation as I am willing to give. I believe that over explaining things will only make the narrative too clunky. I'd rather keep it mysterious, but grounded.**

 **That being said, I always wondered why Max could control time hardcore back with Kate, but never again nearly as effectively. The only conclusion I could even imagine was her emotional state. I mean sure, she had played around with it some that day, but not as much as she did in Episode 5, and that never stopped her then! So I offer my rebuttal, Max is tied directly to time. Opening up some really fun things to come. Well...fun for me anyway.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Be sure to stay tuned! Same Bat-Time! Same Bat-Channel!**

 **Until next time, stay golden.**


End file.
